The present invention relates generally to lighting devices for use in connection with firearms and assault weapons. More specifically, the present invention relates to a lighting device that has an annular body with an opening therein such that the lighting device, when installed onto a firearm, surrounds the barrel of the weapon.
In the general field of combat and commercial weaponry, numerous add-on enhancements have become available for attachment to standard firearms thereby significantly upgrading the capability of the firearm. One area within the broad scope of available firearms that is of particular interest is the M16/M4 weapon system typically utilized in military or combat settings. Generally, the M16/M4 weapon as depicted at FIG. 1 includes a lower receiver 4, an upper receiver 6, a butt stock 8 extending rearwardly from the upper and lower receivers and a barrel 10 that is attached to the front of the upper receiver 6 and extends in a forward direction and a front sight 12 attached to the forward end of the barrel 10 with a bayonet lug 14 that extends from the bottom thereof. The barrel 10 is held in position on the front of the upper receiver 6 by a barrel nut that is threaded onto a barrel mount located on the front of the upper receiver. Most new models of the M16/M4 weapons also include a dovetail rail interface 16 integrally formed along the top of the upper receiver. This interface rail 16 provides a convenient mounting point for many of the available accessories for use with the M16/M4 firearm such as scopes, sighting devices, lasers and directed fire devices. Since this rail extends only along the upper receiver the interface is limited in length to the length of the receiver. The difficulty is that many military personnel have multiple sighting devices in addition to a variety of lighting devices, accessory handgrips, etc. that could also be attached to the weapon for enhanced use of the weapon. In view of the broad range of add on accessories, there is not enough space on the upper receiver to accommodate all of the accessories that the user may desire to use.
In an attempt to overcome the space limitations, various methods and means have been developed for interfacing add-on enhancements to firearms. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,871 discloses a quickly detachable interface means for modular enhancements. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,806 discloses a universal receiver sleeve having an upper interface portion with standard, universal dimensions regardless of the firearm and having a lower interface portion specific to a particular firearm. Another interface means is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,343,650 where an extended rigid interface frame with upper and lower rails is shown that is joined to a firearm receiver and extends forward about the firearm's barrel to a head assembly replacing the firearm's normal front sight. A weaver type interface return portion is provided below the barrel from the head assembly to the receiver. A yoke braces the extended rigid frame receiver sleeve to the forward portion of the firearm's receiver. The distal end of the extended rigid frame receiver sleeve terminates in a front sight housing, which connects the upper and lower rails and provides a housing for advanced laser and sensor components, and the standard front sight bead. The front sight housing is self-supported by the connection of the upper and lower rails running back to the yoke and secured to the top of the receiver. The barrel of the rifle is free floating in that it does not touch the extended rigid frame receiver sleeve in any manner. This permits greater shooting accuracy and protects sensitive electrical components within the front sight housing by isolating the front sight housing from the heat generated from the barrel.
One of the difficulties with the prior art mounting systems is that they still do not provide enough room along the upper rail to allow multiple accessories to be used in conjunction with one another. Despite the space limitation, there is a broad spectrum of available accessories relating to optics for sighting targets. Further, there are many different types of optics for the many different and varied types of combat that a soldier may face. For example, there are high power optics for snipers and there are low power red dot optics for close combat. There are also combination optics, such as the Trijicon® ACOG® optic, which includes an optic with a smaller degree of magnification (1×-4×) in combination with a red dot reticle. In any event, each of these optics must be mounted to the dovetail rail using some type of mount.
Another category of accessories employed in conjunction with firearms includes lights and lasers. These types of accessories are typically mounted on the hand guards of the weapon on the sides or on the top of the hand guard toward the front sight. Often, since one of the accessories used on the upper rail is an optical sight, most other accessories end up blocking the sight when mounted on the upper rail. Further, each of these additional accessories also takes up valuable space on the available dovetail rails and limits the overall number of possible accessories that can be mounted thereto. As a result, soldiers often have to make choices about which types of accessories they will mount for particular missions because all of the desired accessories will simply not fit onto the available rail space on the weapon.
Accordingly, there is a need in the industry for an alternate mounting platform that integrates several different accessories into a single alternate location in a manner that reduces the amount of space required for mounting them onto the weapon.